Thursday, 30 May 2013

Only 2 species added to the year list since the last update, namely Spotted flycatcher and Puffin.
Still no Common Tern yet, which is pretty mind boggling. With June approaching, Storm petrel and Balearic Shearwater will be on the cards, but a few weeks away.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

I thought it would never happen,
but nearly 5 months into the patch birding year, I finally saw a Moorhen
(108) on Rathlin on Saturday 25 May! Migration seems to be on the wane for some
species but a few waifs and strays are still turning up.A missed opportunity this week was failing to
connect with a female Hen Harrier
that has been reported from several spots around the patch since mid-week.

Finally!

Decent numbers of common warblers
were spread across the usual locations and a Spotted Flycatcher was in Church Valley snapping away at insects from
a fence post.As I was leaving this area
a Woodpigeon (109) sped across the
sky and circled the valley a number of times before heading off west (I only
saw my first of this species on the island last autumn).

Plenty of finches have taken a
liking to the fields behind Church Bay, which are currently full of
wildflowers.In amongst these were at
least 4 Common Redpolls.As to where these birds are heading is
anyone’s guess, but there seem to be a few around the Western Isles in Scotland
and other migration watch points in NW Ireland at the moment.In other finch news, a breeding plumaged Twite was observed singing and visiting
a probable nest location.

I reported last week that the Black-headed Gull colony had failed, so
I was pleased to discover a new colony today that held around 25 nesting
pairs.Several other species were also
seen with hatchlings or fledged young including Song Thrush, Lapwing, Starling, House Sparrow, Stonechat,
Mallard, Coot and Greylag.Only 2 Sand
Martins were seen around Ushet Lough and appear to have changed their minds
about breeding in the cliff face nearby.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

With migration basically a struggle throughout Cork this Spring it's no surprise that nothing unexpected turned up on patch. I suppose I should be thankful that at least the expected managed to make it. A Spotted Flycatcher turned up back on territory before I had heard of one at a migration spot. Then the next day a Whitethroat was singing. Luckily two Whimbrel flew over calling one evening, I was starting to think I was going to have to string them if they didn't pass over soon.
And that's that until the summer post breeding dispersal of Sedgies. Ok I might get a June Hobby or a
flyover Crossbill but at 98.79% anything else will be a big bonus. I had suspected that I omitted some species
in my tally from earlier in the year but I didn't expect that I had left out 12 species hence the jump to 82sp
and 96 points.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

I spent the 19th and
20th of May on Rathlin doing a mix of patch birding and survey squares
for the RSPB Northern Ireland Twite survey which has been taking place over the
last two breeding seasons.Naturally, my
survey squares were all within the patch boundary!The two days produced 3 new birds for the
year list, including two patch ticks but will be remembered just as much for
making the rookie mistake of leaving the island while other birders were still
present!

I decided to split the patch into
two sections, north and south of the harbour and cover one area each day.From the ferry across on Sunday 19 May, it
was unusual to see many Puffins sitting
on the water and several more were seen later on the water below the
Coastguards Station and East Light.The
harbour wall was swarming with hirundines feasting on flies and 2 Common Sandpiper were at the base of
the West Pier.As I checked the trees
and scrub at the bottom of Church Valley, a small finch appeared into few
feeding on seed heads by the Church.This turned out to be the first of a number of rather interesting Redpolls seen during the day (and the
only one that I got the chance to photograph).Answers on a postcard...

﻿

Interesting Redpoll

White Wagtail passage appears to be coming to an end, with only 1
bird noted today, but a small number of waders are still on the move, including
8 Dunlin at the south east side of
the harbour.Also of note today were
high counts of 27 Sedge Warblers and
15 Whitethroats.The laneway running alongside Ballycarry Pool
has produced a few good birds so far this spring and today held 2 Spotted Flycatchers
(105) and at least 2 Common Redpolls (106) as well as multiple Sedge
Warblers and Whitethroats.Two pairs of Coot each had 4 small chicks in the
pool itself.The Common Redpolls were in
a flighty flock with 10 Lesser Redpolls
and really stood out from the crowd – real chunky birds.A small arrival of finches had obviously taken
place with small numbers of Goldfinches
and Linnets also present. I see
Common Redpolls most autumns on the patch, but good to get them on list early
on nonetheless.

Spotted Fly - one of 3 on the patch today

Another Spotted Flycatcher was seen
in the upper part of Church Valley along with large numbers of common
warblers.Half an hour spent seawatching
from the East Light saw 320 Large Auks (mostly Razorbills), 1 Puffin and 5 Manx
Shearwater heading west and 3 Porpoise
milling around.

The next morning I met with work
colleagues in Ballycastle for the 8am ferry to spend the day looking for Twite
around the island.This also provided
the rare opportunity for the bulk of the island to be covered simultaneously,
so I asked the others to keep a note of anything unusual they encountered in their
survey squares (any Moorhens lads?).

I had barely started into my survey
work, when a Collared
Dove (107) flew by.I paused
for thought soon after finding myself clambering up to a high point for a
better look!This was an island tick
after all.Sedge Warblers were again prominent with a further 20 birds noted
in this half of the patch.One lonesome Sanderling was in Mill Bay.

Sanderling

Sedge Warbler

The weather all day was rather
misty and murky, but this certainly ushered plenty of Snipe into action, as out of the 10 encountered today, 7 were heard
chipping or drumming. In fact this was a
good day overall for breeding waders around the island, several more displaying
Snipe were recorded, as were breeding Lapwing
and a “suspicious” Curlew.However, it looks like the Black-headed Gull colony has been flooded
out, as all the birds have now left the area.

Snipe

The Doon Bay area had 2 Sandwich Terns feeding offshore and yet
more Sedge Warblers were in the vegetated gullies along the cliff face.From the top of the cliffs, while eating
lunch, I spotted a Ferret bolting
around below.Several Rock Doves were also seen in this area.I had finished covering my survey squares by
3pm with a return of 2 Twite to show
for my efforts.I met up with some of
the others who had also finished in Church Bay for a cup of tea.Reports came in that a Spotted Flycatcher was seen behind Church Bay (M. Tickner) and that
presumably the same 2 Common Redpolls from
yesterday had been seen again, this time at the west end (B. Robson).

Talk soon turned to my Patch
Challenge efforts on the island and I mentioned how the laneway beside
Ballycarry Pool (it turns out no-one seems to know what this area is actually
called) had been producing the goods for me.A couple of us caught the 4.15pm ferry back to Ballycastle, leaving the
others to finish up the Twite work or have a final look around.The inevitable text was received at 5.30pm while
sitting with my feet up in Ballycastle – “Whinchat
at end of laneway by Ballycarry Pool”.Bollocks.That text almost ruined
my chippy!To top it all off, not one
Moorhen was seen on the entire island.

Monday, 13 May 2013

Sunday 12 May was a miserable,
wet and windy affair.Yet for some
reason, I found my way over to Rathlin for a quick afternoon dash around the
patch and by the end of the day I had jotted 3 year ticks into a soggy
notebook.

During the few clear spells, it
was evident that a good number of migrants were around, particularly in Church
Valley and the gardens around the east end.A Water Rail was heard
calling from one of the reed beds at the latter.I checked some feeders in the gardens in
Church Bay and found a single Lesser
Redpoll (102) feeding with several Goldfinches.The small bay at the east side of the harbour
also held a surprise, as amongst several summer plumaged Dunlin and Turnstones, were
2 Sanderling (103) huddled amongst
the seaweed.

As ever Mill Bay had attracted
some good birds, including several White
Wagtails and Wheatears, a few Ringed Plover and a smart (almost) RedKnot (104) amongst several more Dunlin and Turnstones.As I was attempting some photos in the gloom,
a pipit hopped up briefly onto a nearby rock, sporting an orange breast and
creamy almost unstreaked underparts! I have no idea what to make of the Rock Pipits on Rathlin at this
stage.I would assume the small numbers
now present are all breeding birds, so what is this littoralis type doing there? In fact several birds in recent weeks
have been equally perplexing.A flock of
unseen Whimbrel called overhead as I
sat out yet another downpour.

Knot - a scarce visitor to Rathlin

A quick tour of the loughs
produced the peak count of hirundines of the year and a pair of Teal were still lurking around.I wanted to check the ditches and pines at
the south end of Ushet Lough for Whinchat and thought I was in luck when I
heard a few scratches and whistles from behind the last group of pine
trees.As I approached, a bird shot out
of the undergrowth and flew into the next small group of pines 100m to the
north.In flight I could see a distinct
red tail and grey body – it soon perched nicely on some lower branches. The
second male CommonRedstart
of the spring! I took a few record shots and then the bird completely
vanished!You’d think I’d learn...

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

After skiving off to Tuscany last weekend, this weekend was about cleaning up on some expected may-migrants.

As expected, many of these were easy to connect with, such as Whitethroat, Sedge warbler and Grasshopper warbler, which were get-able at the back bog and shanagarry.

Nice surprises however were, Reed warbler, Cuckoo and Carrion Crow, also at the back bog. Carrion's are scarce enough in Cork, though there are always a couple around if you look, this was my first of the year however and a nice bonus. And reed warbler, though I do not believe they breed at Ballycotton anymore, tend just to pass through. So nice to connect with one singing.

Monday, 6 May 2013

As it had been more than a
fortnight since my last visit to the patch, I was concerned that I might have
missed out on a few of the commoner summer migrants.I needn’t have worried though, as I managed
to pick up no less than 8 year ticks on Sunday 5 May, including a long overdue
first island record!

On the ferry across I spotted a
fishing boat that was attracting a few large gulls, so I decided to have a
check for any skuas and sure enough a Great
Skua was in tow.The bird must have
been about 4 miles off Rathlin, but this didn’t stop me trying to see it from
dry land.Unfortunately, I’ll have to
leave to off the list for now, as I couldn’t see the boat from Rathlin never
mind the skua!

Regular blog readers may recall a
few posts ago I mentioned that the West Pier area was bound to attract a Black
Redstart someday.I was watching a few White Wagtails feeding amongst the
fresh seaweed at the base of the pier, when a bird popped up onto a rock – a Black Redstart!
(94). A new species for the island list, which now stands at 190. I think I
will throw in a few more predictions in future posts!

Patch Mega!

A Sandwich Tern then screeched by the pier and a Light-bellied Brent Goose here was presumably the same bird first
seen on 15 April.I made my way uphill
and saw several flowering Early Purple
Orchids by the Church (in an area I always think looks good for an autumn Ovenbird...).

Early Purple Orchid

As I entered the upper section of
Church Valley, I could hear a Sedge
Warbler (95) in song soon to be joined by a second.Next into song was one of 3 Whitethroats (96) in the area and then a
Grasshopper Warbler (97) began
reeling in the background. This area also held a few Wheatears and 10+ Willow
Warblers.

As I made my way along the high
road towards the east end two Rock Doves
(98) flew over giving good views as they headed towards the north cliffs and a Sparrowhawk looked destined for its own
check of Church Valley.Nothing new was
seen around the east end gardens or cattle fields, but Sedge Warblers seemed to
be everywhere.

Ballycarry Pool is now almost dry
and had attracted the Brent Goose over for a feed.It was interesting to note that two pairs of Teal were still present.The shoreline between Church Bay and Mill Bay
proved more productive with two summer plumaged Dunlin (99) and 5 Whimbrel
(100) in attendance alongside further Wheatears and White Wagtails.

I had already scanned Ushet Lough
and made my way to the marsh at its south end, before I heard Black-tailed Godwits (101) calling from
nearby.I finally managed to spot 12 cracking
summer plumaged Icelandic race birds feeding along the west shoreline.Only the second time I’ve recorded this
species on the island.

I seawatched from Ushet Port for
half an hour, seeing several Manx
Shearwaters moving east and 10 Whimbrel moving south.

A great number and variety of
migrants were on the island today and the final tallies for the patch were:

Good
coverage at the end of April and start of May produced not a lot in the way of
new species. First up was a singing Whitethroat
(89) on Friday evening 26th April, but not much else on the way down to (or
during) a brief seawatch – not surprising in northwesterlies. A sudden,
freezing hail-shower did produce some nice rainbows when it ended – and
deposited a mini-fall of Wheatears (23+) that hadn’t been there beforehand.
Some appeared to be Greenlands, though it was hard to be sure as most were
puffed up against the cold.

Gratuitous rainbow shot, 26th April

Next
morning (27th) I was on a Waterford bird-race team but Brownstown was cunningly
scheduled for a few hours in the early morning – surely our best chance of land
and sea migrants. 47 species in 3 hours was reasonable (county day-total of 96
– runners-up to the winners with 102), but only Common Tern (90) was new. Other useful species included 3 raptors,
Tree Sparrow and Common Scoter, but an hour’s seawatch failed to produce any
Manx or skuas (northerlies again). A return to southwesterlies next day (28th)
produced a Bonxie and plenty of Manxies, but no newbies apart from hearing of a
Brambling in a neighbour's garden a few weeks ago.

Young male Blackcap, 2nd May

Surely
5 or 6 days’ coverage from the start of May would produce more? A belated first
Sedge Warbler (91) singing by the
front-door on Wednesday evening (1st) was a start. But the next few days
produced just a trickle of landbird migrants (including the first Blackcap and
Willow Warbler ringed here this spring). Seawatches produced occasional Bonxies
and Arctic Skuas but still no Poms – I’d been counting on a flock or two this
week. Still, the best species since March turned up on the last seawatch - 5 Roseate Terns (92) feeding with small
numbers of Commics, Kittiwakes and Manx on the 5th.

Creeping fog, 2nd May

Score
92 species and 114 points (78.08%) – but still missing House Martin,
Grasshopper Warbler, Swift and Bullfinch (or a major rare) among others.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

So now that everyone has got the first spring
migrants out of their system - yes everything is very late isn't it, no I've
never had swallows before sand martins either. The first fine day in quite a
long long time came in April , visibility was good so I made my way at high tide
to the highest point of the farm, in appropriately enough 'The High Field' .
(Field nomenclature can be as imaginative as the bird variety, the
equally elevated next door field is called the Top Field,
so I'll leave it to your imagination to guess why the adjacent Boreen Field got
it's name.) Once more looking south to the north channel of Cork Harbour in
hopes of something flying high above the intervening hills. After about 10 mins
two ducks flew through and quickly disappeared, 'bugger' I was sure they were
Wigeon but just not sure enough. Another couple of minutes and five more ducks,
except this time they showed well against the background and they were clearly
Shellduck, only the second patch record ever. Clearly you can seawatch from an
inland site even when you cant see any water.

Five or ten minutes later and 4 more ducks and
this time they were Wigeon, again showing below the horizon but above the
intruding hills and trees, first ever patch sighting, the previous record was a
migrating flock at night; now if only Grey Plover and Turnstone were given to
such flights of fancy.

The bitter spring has had it's impact on crops
and birds. The Oilseed Rape should by now be 6-8 inches high, due to the cold it
was at best 2 inches, now I'm sure you'll admit, we've all used that excuse from
time to time,but from a farming point of view this crop had had it's chance and had to be ploughed down.
Whatever about the expense the year listing upshot is Sedge Warbler may be
trickier this year as 2 pairs bred in last years OSR.

Miniscule Oilseed Rape phoning home to say goodbye

I'll be waiting for the
post breeding dispersal this year when a few birds can usually be found in
cereal crops pre harvest. The migrating wave of Willow Warblers were also late,
but at least they did appear eventually and moved on just as quickly. I also
finally got a Kingfisher and both Martins on the same day. As for breeding
species Greenfinches seem to be commoner and possibly are making a comeback from
Trinh ...Trinch ...Tricn....that disease they get.

Gratuitous Greenfinch Pic

Lots of Blackcaps and
Chiffchaffs now singing and Stock Doves are finally appearing in numbers, eating
the late sown Barley but at least they're around. Finally last night while
locking in the dog for the night I was most surprised to flush a Long - eared
Owl from a gate in the yard. Just the third patch record - question is, does it count as
a Summer or Winter record?